Whales Gobble $915M in XRP – Will Retail Investors Miss the Boat or Ride the Wave to Price Surge?

Crypto whales just made a $915 million bet on XRP – and now all eyes are on retail traders.

Will Main Street catch up to Wall Street's crypto play?

The whale move signals growing institutional confidence, but retail traders remain skittish after years of regulatory whiplash. When the suits start buying, history suggests the shorts get squeezed – but this isn't your 2017 bull market anymore.

Price action could go parabolic if retail FOMO kicks in. Or we might just witness another case of 'whales pump, retail dumps' – the oldest story in crypto's playbook.

While the crowds wait, whales act

XRP whales appear unfazed by recent market turbulence.

Over the past week, wallets holding between 10 million and 100 million XRP added more than 420 million tokens, worth over $915 million, despite prices dipping to a local low.

Source: Santiment

Whale accumulation spiked even as price slumped, so the possibility of strategic positioning ahead of a potential rebound isn’t far off.

Is XRP becoming less attractive to newcomers?

While whales ramp up their holdings, retail participation is heading in the opposite direction.

According to Glassnode data, the number of new XRP addresses dropped sharply last week, hitting its lowest level since mid-April.

Source: Glassnode

The metric, often viewed as a proxy for fresh capital inflow and user interest, has declined nearly 20% from its June peak.

This suggests a growing divergence between institutional conviction and broader market sentiment.

Without a rebound in user growth, XRP’s long-term momentum may struggle to sustain itself… regardless of how bullish the whales appear.

Momentum shows signs of life, but volume is the missing piece

Source: TradingView

At press time, the Chaikin Money FLOW stood at +0.11, indicating mild buying pressure—likely fueled by whale accumulation. 

However, the Relative Volume (RVOL) remained low at 0.15, well below the 1.0 level typically seen ahead of major breakouts.

While XRP has held steady NEAR $2.19, it hasn’t yet drawn the strong trading activity needed to ignite a sustained rally. 

The groundwork for a rebound may be in place, but without a notable increase in volume, momentum could fade before it gains traction.